Ice skate blade guards are typically made of stiff hard rubber with a means to attach it over a blade of an ice skate. The guards are used to protect the blade of the skate from damage as the skater walks over the ground to the ice skating area. They are also used to protect the skater from injury when transporting the skates and to prevent damage to the blades. Rubber guards allow water to accumulate in the blade track, which causes the blade to rust, discolor or become dull. Also, the dimensions of the rubber guards limits their use for covering different blade sizes, requiring a skater to purchase various guards for each size skate. This is a problem particularly for children who rapidly outgrow their skates.
Another type of ice skate blade cover is a bag-like cover which is soft and which has an elastic member completely enclosed in a hem extending about an opening in the bag. In use, the bag is stretched over the blade to cover it. Such blade covers are widely used by skaters who skate on indoor rinks and do not typically walk on the ground, rather they remove the bag cover immediately prior to use and do so, adjacent the ice. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,323,049 discloses a skate guard comprising a flat, flexible elastic strip of heavy elastic webbing and having pockets at each end for accepting the point and heal of a skate blade. The pockets are preferably formed of leather.
However, many skaters often do walk, even for a small distance, on their covered skate blades to the ice. The bag covers often cut through by the sharp blade edges and becomes damaged. To overcome this problem, bag-style covers may include reinforcing materials. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,999 discloses an ice skate guard comprising a pouch for receiving the blade of an ice skate for protecting a skater from sharp skate blades and for easy, foldable, pocket storage. The pouch comprises: an inner wall of fabric, an outer wall of fabric and a cushioning material disposed between the inner and outer walls. Hook and loop fasteners attached to the inner wall are used to secure the pouch to the skate blade. The inner fabric wall is preferably made of a cotton army duck material and the outer fabric wall is preferably made of a net-type material.
Bag covers also suffer the problem retaining moisture and promoting rusting of the skate blade. To reduce this problem, bag covers may be made using materials with wicking properties. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,479 discloses an ice skate guard comprising a pouch for receiving the blade of an ice skate. The pouch is constructed from multiple layers: an inner portion of moisture absorbent material, an outer portion of flexible material and a friction enhancing material disposed on the outer portion along a bottom of the pouch. The friction enhancing material is preferably a soft rubber. The outer portion of flexible material is fabricated from a material chosen from fleece, wool, flannel, nylon, denim, mesh fabric and cotton. U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,479 discloses that the inner portion of moisture absorbent material is fabricated from a material having wicking properties such as terry cloth, sponge, cotton and flannel, so that moisture from the blade is absorbed and directed away from the blade keeping it dry.
However, in use, the wicking properties of such moisture absorbent materials do not effectively draw moisture away from the skate blade and often have the opposite effect of keeping moisture in proximity of the skate blade, thus encouraging rust.